Every Man His Own Mechanic

( Originally Published 1902 )

Mend your broken chairs and crippled furniture; put fresh panes of glass into your broken windows; do your own repairs as far as it is practicable, indoors and out of doors; look after your own locks and fastenings; make your own garden tools and appliances; put up your own sheds, greenhouses, and garden buildings, and I shall answer for it that if you check what you save on each job, you will find yourself in pocket at the end of the year merely through resorting to self-help.

Let us take a simple case of common occurrence, as for example, a broken window, and see, by comparing the cost of repairs when executed by a glazier on the one hand, and done by the householder himself on the other, how much may be saved by means of a little practical knowledge and self-help.